January 14, 2008

2008: No More Hibernation Mondays!

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 6:29 am

What Was I Thinking?

Personal Identity logo

It’s the second full week of the New Year. How does my body know that? About this time every year — without my consent — my body decides that I’m bear not a human. Hibernation begins to look so attractive.

I wake in the morning later than usual, and my first thought is when I’ll be able to visit my pillow again.

This morning, I decided to think about that. . . . What’s this living for the future? What’s this looking forward to sleeping? How many hours, how many days have I spent getting ready in the morning telling my brain to push out chemicals that said, “I don’t really want to be here.”?

I’ve taken over — banished that bear behavior. Now my brain is saying that “Mondays are time to reconnect with the folks I’ve not seen all weekend.” That sure makes getting up easier.

No more hibernation Mondays for this girl.

I’m a person, not a bear. I’m all about living this year.

Have you hibernating or wishing you could? How are you going to wake up this year?

Thank you, .
Liz's Signature


Filed under Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog |



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23 Comments to “2008: No More Hibernation Mondays!”

  1. January 14th, 2008 at 6:38 am
    Merlene said

    Great post, Liz!

    I’ve been living in a world where folks start grumbling about Monday when they wake up and it’s nice to see someone excited about a Monday (or any morning).

    Monday is the first day of a new week. It’s full of potential. It’s a fresh start. It’s got unlimited scope for imagination.

    Have a great Monday :)

  2. January 14th, 2008 at 6:44 am
    Jes said

    Oh my goodness!! When September rolls around this is soooooo totally me! I was thinking the same thing this morning as I was getting washed and dressed. My job right now is my apt and obtaining one.
    But I thought today i will postpone it for MacWorld. That will be my employment today. What satisfaction! Now I look at the rearranging of furniture, filing, laundry, trash and vacuuming that needs to be done today. I need to reconnect with Neil Fiore & David Allen, but I realized just now that I need to reconnect with my Heavenly Father. ‘Ye who are weary come ho-o-ome’. He just gave me this hymn as I’m typing.

    Love.

  3. January 14th, 2008 at 7:22 am
    Todd Earwood said

    Liz- I agree. Sport analysts love to call it the sophomore slump. While a Freshman year or week one of the new year are filled with excitement of great changes and initiatives, week two is about continuation and persistence to prove the first wasn’t a fluke. Thanks for this healthy reminder. Here’s wishing you a great Monday!

  4. January 14th, 2008 at 7:31 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Merlene!
    Monday is 20% of a work week. Imagine what we lose when we write it off from the start. . . .

    Much more fun to do as you do — fall in love with the potential!!

    Great word — potential –lots of energy. :)

  5. January 14th, 2008 at 7:32 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Todd!
    Great Monday to you, too!

    Holding on to that “beginner’s mind” make life so much more exciting. Who wants to be a “disillusioned learner”?

    I love that “new pad of paper” feeling. :)

  6. January 14th, 2008 at 8:32 am
    Joanna Young said

    Hi Liz, hibernation is tempting here too, esp with a cat who looks on with disgust if I try to get up before he’s good and ready…

    This might sound a bit contrary but to help get me going I think about all the awful Mondays I’ve faced in the past… and how lucky I am not to be facing them any more because I now work for my self. It seems to work anyway :-)

    Joanna

  7. January 14th, 2008 at 8:48 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Jes!
    So much living to do, no time to hibernate! Wow! All of the energy!

    Having a great idea for spending the day — MacWorld! — is a fabulous way to be living and coming out of the cave again into the sunshine.

    Yeah, it’s so totally me too! Not anymore!

  8. January 14th, 2008 at 8:49 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Joanna!
    That doesn’t sound contrary to me . . . that sounds like gratitude!! Gratitude is a fabulous motivator. :)

  9. January 14th, 2008 at 9:02 am
    Mike Murray said

    Not sure how you knew this morning, but I you read my mind. Today, the hibernation instinct was stronger than ever. Today wasn’t just the nice, warm, “I want to stay here” feeling. It was like the bed had developed some strange sort of magnetism.

    Like Michael Correleone in the third installment of the Godfather trilogy, every time I tried to get out, the bed kept pulling me back in.

    But the projects that I have rolling that excite me eventually got me moving… albeit with a full two hours of hibernation under my belt.

    Thanks for sharing the motivating thoughts, Liz…

    -Mike

  10. January 14th, 2008 at 9:10 am
    Char said

    Happy Monday Liz!! Personally, I love Mondays. I love the feeling of a brand new week full of possibilities that are in front of me. Monday mornings are my most productive time of the week.

  11. January 14th, 2008 at 9:29 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Char!
    That’s a great way to face the week. I sure know this: however I tackle my Monday sets the tempo for the entire week. :)

  12. January 14th, 2008 at 9:59 am
    Kusani said

    I admit to not being a morning person at all, let alone a Monday person…

    …all the same, Monday is a day to say “good morning” - to everything and everyone. As a way to ease myself into the waking world, I say good morning to my cats, my dog, my car when I start it, the crazy drivers who share my commute, and my coworkers when I finally get into the office.

    I think repeating the word ‘good’ so many times helps. =)

    I love your enthusiasm, Liz - and my fellow commenters have some great energy going for them, too. Keep it up! Meanwhile, I’ll be zenning at my desk and making it a gentle, peaceful morning before diving into the workload. =)

  13. January 14th, 2008 at 11:40 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hey Mike!
    Maybe it’s that I’m Italian! :)

    Nah, it’s that I live inside your computer.

    Or possibly it’s just the human experience. :)

  14. January 14th, 2008 at 11:55 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Kusani!
    I never was a morning person, but now that I own my life. I want every part of my day . . . morning, afternoon, evening, and those starry, starry night times.

    It’s all how we look that determines what we see, isn’t it? I’m with you we make our own peace every day.

  15. January 14th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
    It’s Monday - No Motivation Needed said

    [...] 2008: No more hibernation Mondays from Liz Strauss [...]

  16. January 14th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
    SunnySchlenger said

    You know what helps me on Monday mornings?
    To do what I know centers me and lifts me up. It works better than “telling” myself to get going.

  17. January 14th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
    Karen Lynch-Live the Power said

    I so wish I could hibernate! Just hide out in a warm house with some good books, some yarn, a dead battery on the cell phone and the other one unplugged.
    Oh and turn off the computer too! No email, no blogging, no contact with the outside world at all….
    When can I start?

    But actually your solutions are probably better….
    Get up and get going!

  18. January 14th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
    Anthony Lawrence said

    I’ve always liked Mondays..

    By Friday I’m usually beat - physically, emotionally, I’ve had enough and need a little down time (not that I never work on the weekend, I do, but not at the same pitch - nowhere near!).

    Mondays I usually wake up feeling renewed, ready to take up arms and step into battle once again.. I *like* Mondays.

  19. January 14th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
    Erica Ross-Krieger said

    A round about train of thought…
    I think there is something to be said for “living with the seasons”, just as there is for “eating locally”.

    In the latter case, we buy produce grown locally that is in season, which seems to help the local farmers and our bodies. In the former case, if we live according to the Law of 5 Elements (philosophy of Chinese Medicine), we acknowledge this is a Monday in winter (in the case of this hemisphere anyway).

    So it would make perfect sense that our bodies are telling us to hibernate a bit — to go slow — to be gathering energy for what we will build — to savor the warmth of connection — to care for our bodies, minds, and spirits as well as the spirit of our businesses at this time. So that’s how I approach Mondays in the winter. It’s a little different from the way I approach Mondays in the spring. I don’t disappear, I just savor more:)

  20. January 14th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
    Alina Popescu said

    Hi Liz! I have an issue with sleep patterns on any day. But unlike other people, Mondays are rarely a problem for me. For some reason I wake up earlier on Mondays. I still start fantasizing about my pillow at 8 pm! But I blame that on the fact my body has been deprived of proper rest (working night shifts for years etc) for so long, it still didn’t process the fact I do want to sleep at night, it just tries to make sure I do :D

  21. January 14th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
    Mother Earth said

    i personally believe that if I am going to work on saturdays that monday is really a day off and can be an official pajama day if i want it to be - i also believe that noone can tell me that 9 am is the start of my day - uh uh, not if i am up til 2 and they are asleep by 11

    I love that most people have weekends, like 2 days off in a row - who decided that one?

    do I??

    as far as today I feel that there is a strong wintery magnetic wonder to behold called the snooze button and my new plush pile sea blue blanket

    happiness is monday, pajama day, pasta day, and how many hats can one wear day cuz guess what I worked ALL day today and it was great, but i didn’t start until 11 cuz I could

    fiesty feeling Mother Earth aka Karen Hanrahan
    needs to do her dishes

    http://www.bestwellnessconsultant.com

  22. January 14th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hey you guys, when I wrote this earlier today, I had no clue that it would resonate with people I care about in this way . . . what the heck was I thinking?

    Sunny,
    You don’t have to tell yourself to keep going. You are filled with life. Holy cow! Just be you!

    Karen,
    You and I do so much better when we all don’t think about what makes us sit still. . . . :)

    Anthony,
    You don’t know what a joy it is to my brain to have you back here again. It make me feel real in a whole cyberway I think only you know what I mean.

  23. January 14th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Erica,
    Those who know how to savor can wake and relax into the day . . . but the rest of us have to wake up to the energy. I know you know this.

    Alina,
    You can live up to the dreams that your mind offers you, but can you live up to all of your potential? It’s incredible. :)

    Ah Karen,
    It’s as if you want us to believe you really care what day of the week it is. I know better. :)

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